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The new Spirit Plaza will be a main part of Downtown Detroit Markets this season.

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Downtown Detroit is decked out for the holidays after a Quicken Loans-led effort to decorate city center.

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Kurt Nagl/Crain's Detroit Business

Cadillac Square has an expanded warming center this season for Downtown Detroit Markets.

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Kurt Nagl/Crain's Detroit Business

Open Me When's Beatrice Wolnerman and her mom, Harriet, are operating a gifting shop pop-up at Downtown Detroit Markets.

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Kurt Nagl/Crain's Detroit Business

The beach at Campus Martius has been transformed into an ice rink.

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Kurt Nagl/Crain's Detroit Business

There will be six "snowball" warming stations downtown this holiday season.

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Kurt Nagl/Crain's Detroit Business

Tee Capel is selling products from her Detroit-based online business Fly Behavior at Downtown Detroit Markets.

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Kurt Nagl/Crain's Detroit Business

All the holiday trimmings should be complete in downtown Detroit in time for Friday's tree lighting celebration.

Quicken Loans doubles efforts to deck out downtown

More than 30 entrepreneurs with pop-ups at market

Markets will be open Nov. 17-

More than 30 small businesses are popping up in downtown Detroit for the winter holiday markets in an initiative that decorates the city center and brings in a variety of retailers to boost the city's core.

The Quicken Loans Family of Companies doubled its investment in this year's Downtown Detroit Market to create a holiday hub.

"This is our gift to the city," said Helen Davis Johnson, vice president of strategic investments for Quicken Loans Inc., one of the Dan Gilbert-owned companies. "The goal was to make sure this was the longest season possible for people to enjoy."

During a media tour of the downtown markets Thursday, Johnson said planning for the project began in July and set up started last Friday. She said the markets and garnishments — at Spirit Plaza, Capitol Park, Cadillac Square, 1001 Woodward Ave. and along Woodward Avenue — will be finished just in time for Detroit's tree lighting ceremony Friday evening. The markets run through Jan. 7.

She did not disclose how much money Quicken Loans invested in the markets.

Tee Capel, 33, who runs an online fashion business called Fly Behavior, said presence at the market will increase her brand's exposure. "The market is allowing me to tap into the new, vibrant energy of downtown and giving me the opportunity to connect person-to-person with my customers," she said.

For Darryl Humes Jr., 30, co-owner of Mature menswear clothing retailer, being at the market is practice for a permanent location. "It is hugely beneficial in discovering our retail concept and understanding customer needs and wants," he said.

The market includes retailers selling everything from clothing and accessories to ornaments and real Christmas trees. Greystone Gardens is selling Michigan-grown firs in Capitol Park for $20-$100.

For $1,000, the vendors get a 130-square-foot glass booth with electrical, some lighting, heaters and security, the application details said. Indoor market booths ran $500-$1,000.

With six new warming "snowballs" in Spirit Plaza and an expanded warming tent in Cadillac Square — complete with leather couches and chess board centerpieces — visitors will have more opportunities to escape the cold.

Also new this year is a Quicken Loans partnership with the Detroit Department of Transportation to operate three shuttles to bring people downtown from city neighborhoods. Johnson said plans are still being developed and should be finalized soon.

Johnson said she hopes Downtown Detroit Markets and similar initiatives will eventually become the norm for city businesses.

"We've done a lot in the fall and in the spring and summer, but we haven't done as much as we could do in the winter," she said.